Permanent file for letters



(No Model.)

M. SILVERBERG.

PERMANENT FILE FOR LETTERS, INVOIGES, &c.

No. 318,516. Patented May 26, 1885.

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Unite TATES PATENT Urrrca MARCUS SILVERBERG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PERMANENT FILE FOR LETTERS, INVOICES, 84C.

HSECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 318,516, dated May 26, 1885.

Application filed October 14, 1884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARoUs SILVERBERG, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Permanent Files for Letters, Invoices, &c., of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore in filing letters, bills, &c., they have usually been placed in a temporarybinder having expansible index-sheets, between which the letters, &c., are loosely placed and held by spring-pressure upon theindex-sheets. After the temporary binder is in this way filled its contents, including the index-sheets, are usuallytransferred to a box or case, inwhich the same is permanently kept, theindexsheets being made transferable from the temporary binder-case to the permanent box. This method of binding is shown, for example, in Letters Patent granted to V. A. Amberg, September 24,1878,No. 208,220, and March 2, 1880, No. 224,981, and to Edwin \Vhiting, May 31, 1881, N 0. 242,174,. A serious objection to this system of filing letters is in the great and constantly increasing number of boxes or transfer-cases required, and the consequent expense and great amount of room occupied in storing them away. Another difficulty liesin the fact that the transfer-cases, being usually made of pasteboard and of a frail construction, are liable upon a little use or rough handling to become broken,and, as the letters alllie loosely between the index-sheets, if the box happens to drop, the letters will all fall out and become disarranged.

It is the object of my invention to obviate the necessity of employing this great number of transfer-cases, and also to file the letters permanently in such manner as to save a great amount of space, and at the same time to secure each sheet permanently in the file, so that the letters cannot become detached or disarranged in case the file accidentally drops or is roughly handled, and still permit any letter or sheet to be detached and taken out of the file and again replaced without obliterating any part of its reading matter.

It is also the object of my invention to so file the letters that all the reading matter on each sheet may be conveniently read without removing it from the file,whether it is written upon one or both sides.

(No model.)

In practicing my invention I take the let ters, after they have been placed in the usual manner in a temporary letter-file of any ordinary construction, having expansible indexsheets, and remove them, preferably sheet by sheet, from said file, and place a suitable number of them in a little pile or bunch without changing their order, but arranging all the sheets with their face sides turned the same way, and with the top or caption end up, or else turned to the left, according to the size of the sheet. I then adjust such bunch of sheets so that the upper left-hand corners of all the sheets are even. I then place such bunch of sheets on a rectangular sheet of book-binders press-board,which is to form one side or cover of my permanent file, with the even corner of such bunch of sheets at the upper left-hand cornerof the press-board. Ithen inlike manner remove from the temporary file another bunch of sheets and arrange them so that the lower left-hand corners of all the sheets are even, and place such bunch of sheets on top of the first bunch on the press-board, with its even corner at the lower left-hand corner of the press board, and so on, putting each alternate pile with its even corner at the top and bottom left-hand corners of the press-board until the the entire contents of the temporary binderare removed, or sufficient matter obtained to form a permanent file of the desired size. In this way, putting the even corners of the alternate bunches at the opposite ends of the file, the file may become thinner at the back, near the middle thereof, than at the ends, and to keep the back of the file of about an even thickness throughout I occasionally place postalcards or other small bunches of matter near the middle or at the thin points, with either the top or left-haud edges of all such sheets even with the back. After the contents of the temporary file have been in this manner removed, I then place on top of the pile of letters thus arranged, in the same order that they were in-the temporary file, but with the indexsheets omitted, another sheet of book-binders press-board to form the top or other side of my permanent file.

It will be observed that all the sheets are so arranged in the file that either their top edge or their left-hand edge is even with the back of the permanent file. Narrow sheets whose length is less than the width of the file or. its

' cover I usually place with their top or narrow an inch from the back edge of the file.

edge to the back of the file, and sheets whose length is greater than the width of the file I usually place with their left-hand edge to the back of the file. I next take a brush and apply a thin coating of glue orpaste to the back of the file, so as to hold all thesheets even and in their proper place during the next step or operation, which is to pierce a number of holes with an awl or other suitable instrument through the sheets about one-fourth l1of T e distance between these holes should be less than the width of a postal-card or other smallest sheet in the file, so that at least one hole will pierce every sheet. I then take a needle and insert a strong thread through the holes pierced in the back of the file, the thread be ing preferably doubled and inserted through from one side to the other, so that the thread can freely draw. The holes through which the thread is inserted should also be considerably larger than the thread, and the thread should not be drawn tight, but left comparatively loose, so that the thread can freely draw through the holes and allow the file to lie fiat open at any place. After this is done I next paste an ordinary strip of Manila paper upon the back of the file, which is or should be marked with its appropriate number. The number with which my permanent file is marked will of course 'be the same as that of the transfer-case or permanent file, into which the contents of the temporary binder would be transferred under the old system.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is perspective view ofmy improved permanent file. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the back strip, which bears the number, removed. Fig. 3 is a plan View showing the file lying open. Fig. l is a longitudinal sectional view showing the thread. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the pile of letters with the top press-board cover removed. Fig. 6 is a detail view showing a bunch of letters arranged with one even corner. Fig. 7 is a crosssection. Fig. 8 shows 'one'of the sheets after it has been removed from my permanent file, and Fig. 9 is an end view of the file when open.

In said drawings, A A are the covers of my improved permanent file, which may preferably be made of three-plybook-binders board,

and should be as wide as the largest sheets to be bound in the file and somewhat greater in length than the longest sheets to be bound.

B B B represent letters, invoice, or other sheets to be bound in the file. These of course are of various sizes and dimensions, from a pos tal-eard up.

O is the back of the file, which may preferably be of Manila paper, and should be marked with appropriate number, a, to indicate the number of the file. Theback strip, 0, should be somewhat wider than the thickness of the file, so thatits-edges will lap over onto the covers A. It is secured in place by glue or paste applied thereto.

. D represents the thread, which is inserted through the holes d, pierced through the file about one-fourth of an inch from its back edge. The thread D may preferably be doubled and ,insertedfirst through one of the end holes,

then passed back through the secondhole and through the loop d at the end of the strand, thus fastening that end in such manner that the thread may freely draw, then passed through 'the third hole, then back through the fourth hole, and finally through the fifth or last hole, and its'end end tied'around the thread at d where it passes through thenext to the last hole, thus securing this end, so that the thread may freely draw. The holes dare enough larger than the thread so that the same may draw freely through the holes as the file is opened at any point; and for this purpose,also,the thread is not drawn tight, but left with sufficient slack to permit the file to lie flat open at any place. The amount of slack in the thread when the file is closed is indicated by the portion ofthe thread which is exposed to view when the file lies fiat open, as shown in Fig. 3-that is to say, the sum of the distances between the several pairs ofholes (Z d. This slack of course must shift from one place to another when the file is opened at different places. In other words, the slack must appear wherever the file is opened, and for this reason the thread D must be allowed to draw freely, as otherwise the file cannot be opened without injury.

E (shown in black in Fig. 7) represents the thin coating of glue which is applied to the back of the file to hold the letters even and in place while the holes (I are being punched through the same. As the thread D extends through from side to side, and has considerable slack, and as the holes (I are large enough to permit the thread to draw freely, the file will lie flat open at any point, as shown at Fig. 3, so that the edges of the sheets on opposite sides of the back as itlies open will just meet. The inner edge of the sheet is therefore not caught down between the other sheets, but

hes free, excepting, of course, that it is held at one or more points by the thread D. The sheet can therefore be readily detached by simply pulling it out, the thread cutting the paper, as shown in Fig. 8. WVhen it is desired to replace the sheet, thiscan be done by simply laying it in place and closing the book, when the thread will again catch the sheet and hold it with sufficient firmness, though,of course, the sheet is cut through from the hole d to its edge. It will be observed, however, that as the file lies perfectly fiat open at any place desired, even though the sheet is written on both sides, all the matter on each side can be easily read without removing the sheet from the file and it is of course only very seldom that it is necessary or desired to remove a letter after it is put in the permanent file.

I desire it to be understood that where the letters are transferred, as is sometimes done, from the temporary file to a series of other files or transfer-cases having a more complete index, (the index of each of such cases or files embracing only one or more of the letters of the alphabet.) I in such cases take the letters from such series of files or transfer-boxes, instead of taking them direct from the temporary binder.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a small bunch of letters after the same are arranged with their upper left-hand corners even, ready to be placed in the pile to form my permanent binder. The bunch shown in Fig. 6 is to be placed with its even corner at the upper left-hand corner of the pile, as shown in Fig. 5. The similar bunch to be placed at thelower left-hand corner of the pile (shown in Fig. 5) is of course arranged with theirlower left-hand corners even. In this way not only will the back of the permanent file present even edges, but the edges of the sheets at the ends a a of the file will also be even, so that the file, when completed, will stand on end, like a book, and may be conveniently stored away on shelves, like books in a case. By filing the letters together in this way they occupy a much more compact space than where they lie loosely between the indexsheets of an ordinary permanent file-box or transfer-case, and I find but about half the space is required to store away the same mass of letters under my system; and in addition to this, my filc is not only very much cheaper, but the file is much more durable, and all the letters are securely held therein without any danger or possibility of disarrangeinent. 1f

the sheets are laid with their face up as they are removed from the temporary file, as I have described and shown in the drawings, the operation of removal will begin from the back of the temporary file; but if the sheets are laid with their face down as they are removed such operation should of course begin from the front of the temporary file. If the dimension of any sheet is greater than the width or length of my file-cover, the outer edge of such sheet will of course be folded to make it conform in size to the size of the file.

I claim- 1. The improved permanent letter-file, consisting of the covers A A, in combination with the sheets B, of various sizes, all turned with either their top or left-hand edges to the back of the file, and arranged part with their upper left-hand corners even and at the upper left-hand corner of said covers, and part with their lower-left hand corners even and at the lower left-hand corner of said covers, and a thread, D, inserted through holes (1, near the back edge of the file, said thread D having sufficient slack to permit the file to open, substantially as specified.

2. The process or method of permanently filing letters, invoices, &c., consisting in, first. taking the letters from the temporary indexed binder and arranging each sheet with its same side up, and either its top or left-hand edge turned to the back of the file, and part of said sheets with their upper left-hand corners even and part with their lower left-hand corners even; then applying glue or paste to the back of the file to hold the separate sheets in place; next piercing a number of holes through the sheets near the back edge of the file at such distance apart that one or more holes will pass through the narrowest sheet, and then inserting a thread through said holes to bind said sheets together, substantially as specified.

MARCUS SILVERBERG.

XVitncsses:

EDMUND ADoocK, H. M. MUNDAY. 

